Let Winterlight Come

explosively inconsistent

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:11:45 GMT

laksdfiawejwael I am so giddy. I haven't eaten since like. 2pm (it's 1:20am now >.>) and I don't even really care, but I'm sure I will when I wake up.

Went over to a friend's house to watch the Olympics, since I don't really watch it on my own, just because I am preoccupied with the Internet, and it's more fun with people who are really interested in the sports sometimes.

---

First, commentators are still REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING. For everything. Like, okay, I understand that I am watching the Olympics in the US, so we will be focusing on events that feature the US. I understand that we have some Really Good Athletes/Teams, so we will be winning things, and celebrating that is fine. But after awhile, all of the, "Well, the US team is in fourth place, but YOU KNOW, THEY'VE HAD THE BEST RUN HERE TODAY SO FAR, SINCE EVERYONE ELSE HAS MADE MAJOR MISTAKES AND WE'RE PERFECT ~~and in fourth place~~." sort of comments just got really, really obnoxious. Go Team USA, I get it. I don't think we need to pat ourselves on the back for every little thing, or sort of... cast aside other teams just because well, they are not the US team. Though I understand why this is done, I still got a bit tired of just watching Americans win and BE AWESOME (the synchronized diving being something of an exception to that).

Mostly, it was just how they would contradict themselves, and the repetitiveness, that got to me. Like during women's beach volleyball, how they built up suspense (or something) by saying something along the lines of how Cuba could be the US's biggest challenge, and then said that every time the Cuban pair has faced the US pair, the US has won and that the last time the Cubans placed in an international tourmanent/challenge/whatever was in 2003. Which maybe the US is just way ahead of the field in the sport, but still. As for the repetitiveness, they'd mention every five minutes that the Mens' Gymnastics team wasn't expected to do so well, and blah blah blah WE ARE SO AMAZING. And yeah, they did Pretty Damn Well! It was fantastic that we placed (especially after the pommel horse x_x), but by the time that happened, I was so tired of the praise that I was really more excited that the Japanese had recovered silver, and China had won gold.

YAY CHINA!!!

I was rooting for China to win gold so much. I'm not sure why, but it is partially because they are just so good at what they do, and also for shallow reasons like having pretty outfits and not being lauded every five seconds by my TV commentators. And I wanted to see them live up to their coach's expectations. It would've been so awful to watch them not win.

Synchronized diving was pretty. And of course, I was thinking of Dive to the Future, and that episode of... Honjani(?) where K8 went and did diving. >.> We had fun listening to everyone count off before they jumped (or, in the case of the Chinese pair, just cue themselves).

Swimming was hysterical, just because one of my friends is a swimmer, and she's been rabidly following everything. Four years ago, she took us all on an impromptu mini-road trip (it was pretty amazing at the time, since we were Away From Home So Late and Without Warning) to see Michael Phelps, Lenny Krazelberg-spelled-correctly and Ian Crocker swim at some exhibition thing. And she's swum against some of the girls who made it to the pre-Olympics finals. So she was going nuts the whole time.

Swimming was also CRAZY because they are all so fast. I watched some of the trials and watched things four years ago, and I still don't think I can get over how breaststroke is used in racing, since it just always seemed like a sort of... let's-conserve-energy-so-we-can-swim-for-dry-land-and-not-drown kind of stroke. Maybe that's just how I did it. XD

The patriotism was less annoying there, just because the races were mostly so close (except for that one that Phelps won gold in tonight, and Piersol's Strategic Surge), and other countries won too, and we do have a really fantastic team. Also, my friend was dancing around and shrieking at the TV, which covered it up.

More annoying were the "So, you looked confused when you won. WHY?" questions, when the swimmers probably just wanted to go warm down. >.>

I would totally be fine with just things like, "Okay, in lane one is___, etc." and "Next up on high bar is..." and the pointing out of a few good things and a few bad things. I don't really need to know about how May&Walsh met their husbands.

But it was still fun, especially when we mocked commentary, and also really kind of stressful towards the end of Men's Gymnastics. So now I am hyper and hungry and generally still like :D :D :D.

GLAY TOMORRRROOOOOOOOOW. I am deciding whether I want to do a day of immersion, or just go in knowing the songs that I do (and given that I'm horrible at identifying Jrock songs from bands I listen to far more obsessively, there are not very many of those) and enjoy hearing a bunch of things live before I dig them up online. >.>

We'll see how tomorrow feels. :D

Just Another Olympics Post

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:01:23 GMT

I was trying to watch the Opening Ceremony, but couldn't take any more and stopped somewhere around... Italy's arrival, I think. Towards the end. Also, my parents fell asleep on the other couch (Dad was leaning on Mom, which was sort of cute XD), and my dad was snoring, and that is one of my pet peeves. If I think I can get away with it, sometimes I will poke him awake. >.>

Though it wasn't quite a movie, the opening was definitely Zhang Yimou-like. In a good way, mostly, but also in the way that a lot of Chinese movies (of a certain genre) tend to be like... very artistic but sort of vague? It makes sense to me.

Bob Costas and co. were pretty annoying though with their "Most Chinese will recognize this as...." and "There's no Chinese watching this who wouldn't see that this is..." claims. I did not get that the big blocks moving up and down were wind. >.> dammitliv thought they were water! And I dunno. In general. I remember watching the swimming trials with my friend, who is a swimmer (and has competed against some of the girls in the finals), and she was unusually snarky about all of the commentary because it doesn't really make sense, but then when people do bring in the actual technical aspects, the general announcers either don't get it, or it's too hard to explain, or something.

....and okay, I made it back out in time to watch the torch-lighting. And in conclusion: WOW. Also, adorable tiny child.

But, "Chinese Taipei"? :/ I think I did see Taiwan's flag - their actual flag, not the Olympic one - at the end, though.

8_8

moar screencapping

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:20:33 GMT

Will finish typing up ramble sometime. These posts are just easier to make. :P Linked the rest of LiZ's new OHP pictures in the last post. Shiny!

D updated their OHP today. For those from the meetup, D is the band with the former Junior in it. He's the ~~kindofslutty-looking~~ blonde with the awesome boots. >.> I think they're awesome. Would not/could not wear them at all, even if they were in my size, but I like looking. XD

---

I cannot wait for more pictures with Asagi's pimp cane. Seriously. The red rose on the top is just... so Asagi, and sort of ridiculous.

The diary picture for each person is the same as the profile one, just cropped a little and slightly zoomed in. But I saved it anyways, because D is nice and lets you right click and save images on their OHP, unlike some. *eyes LiZ* In the other pictures I've seen of these outfits, you can see that he's wearing both pink and green (maybe blue?) eyeshadow, and a little jewel near his eye. Dramatic!

Diary pic.
Actually, most of these remind me of amalgams of past costumes. Though Ruiza usually shows off some belly and thigh (thanks for that :D). Already mentioned the boots. Laaaaces.

Diary pic.
This definitely reminds me of several things Hide-zou's worn in the past. And he looks really skinny in this particular picture, though he doesn't look that thin in the others I've seen and I think some of it's just the lighting. Funny how HZ is sort of the rawr!grr one of the bunch (image-wise, of course), but he usually ends up in more feminine clothes than Ruiza... in terms of long skirts and the like.

Diary pic.
Tsunehito is a man! Or a boy, at least. He gets to cover his stomach and wear pants! And has a really shiny crotch. >.>

Diary pic.
Hiroki looks different. At first I thought he looked younger, but now maybe it's just that his face looks different with his hair shorter. I don't know. One day, D should do a photoshoot in which they all get to smile like the dorks they are. /somewhat random, but Hiroki makes me think of smiles, I guess.

Time for new D icons! Especially since I've definitely failed my icon challenge for them. >.>

Also, I am sort of proud of myself for noticing this before the post in the D comm went up. Just because. I need a nap.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:12:50 GMT

Well, my next post was going to be a HELLO NEW FRIENDS + JE Meetup recap post, but then, LiZ happened, so HELLO NEW FRIENDS, this is a little indies Jrock band that Liz flails over a lot. Like, whenever they do something, and especially when they change their costumes. Which isn't all that often. BUT IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN (last time was in March or April).

Like last time, their profile pics haven't been updated at the same time as their group pic, but hopefully they'll change them more quickly than before. >.>

Oh, Ryou. On the plus side, it doesn't look like he's crimping his hair this time. On the not-plus side, his head looks seriously odd-shaped, which I think might have something to do with the camera/how-it-was-shot as well as... Ryou's hair being too short and his head being odd-shaped.

KAI. Why is Kai so giant-looking? XDD But pretty! *so biased* Okay, his head is a little odd-looking too, in a balloony sort of way. But I think it's mostly because I am not used to him being so tall next to Ryou (and even Rei).

Rei is all rawr again, which I'd been seeing in blog pictures, but it looks much better here. Um... yeah... that's about it for the tiny rawr vocalist. :P

I think I remember Yuu talking about cutting his hair, or maybe that was someone else (I know Shun did, but I thought Yuu had too. Maybe?), but this is unexpected! In a good way. His hair has so many spiky bits they distract from the weirdness of his chin, which is actually not all that weird in this picture. Relatively not weird. >.>

Aaaaannnd lovely little Vict. :DD Who is getting prettier and prettier, even with that purpleblue blob on his face. I would like to see the other side of his face, though - I spy facepaint... seems to be 'in' now, which I do not mind at all. It's interesting. XD

As for the new costumes... well, somehow, they seem a little more uniform than they've been in the past, and I will miss Kai's armwarmers from before (things with laces - not shoes *_*), but it's cool to see them in new things. And I like purpleblue, so the color scheme is pretty to me. I wish we'd get more full shots of them, though.

edit: Profile pics! Yay, they updated quickly! And divided their Discography page into five sections, for some reason. >.> They're selling a shirt now, with the slogan, "Our pulse for dear dope audience." Yeeeah, oh-kay.

They seemed to have known about my wish for more full shots of them, because their profile pics are all... not headshots this time. :DD

Ryou looks a little less weird, there ~~but he still sort of reminds me of an ape~~. Same with Yuu. There is something strange about Rei's pose that I can't quite place... Kai is once again the belly/thigh guy, which I have no problem with. XD And Vict is still really pretty, though his picture is Just A Little overexposed. >.>

Still, it makes me happy to see them doing things. Now, guys, PV pls.

*blinks* And now even the flailiness of LiZ getting new clothes is not enough to keep me awake. I hope! It'd be nice to get decent sleep. :P

oink

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:28:28 GMT

Bored, so... the answers to the unguessed questions on the explode-a-meme:

07. Natasha Bedingfield
09. Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts
10. Selwyn
12. British Sea Power
13. Northstar
18. The Velvet Underground
20. Anberlin
21. Azure Ray
22. Bettie Serveert

Tomorrow is the JE Meetup in SF! Yay! Hopefully I will wake up on time, and be able to get out of the house without too much explaining at why I am actually leaving the house before 10am. >.> I have unfortunately not finished the NEWS chibi!pirates, so they will not be coming with me ~~and I guess I could do them now, but... but.... zzzz~~.

explode-a-meme

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:22:31 GMT

sadisticplay posted this like, a month ago, and I was going to do it then because I felt bad for guessing so many of hers (and so me posting it myself would make me feel better? I do not know). But of course, I got carried away, and so because I felt like the Jrock/pop would be so easily identifiable, I made two pictures - the cropped, "normal"-sized ones might make it a little harder to guess, though some people are pretty recognizable all over, and if you click them (just for jrock/pop), they link to bigger, more obvious pictures. And then, because I felt like no one would get most of the western groups that came up (honestly, I'm looking at these pictures, and I can't tell you who half of them are, and there's one band I couldn't even find a mediocre, decently-sized picture of so I used an album cover) - but also that I should try and make this more accessible to people who aren't on my flist for Jmusic reasons - I decided to add more Jrock/pop. So instead of 20, there are 39. >.>

1. Open a music player.
2. Go to 'all music'/'library'.
3. Hit shuffle/repeat/randomise.
4. Find photos of the first 25 artists/bands that come up (no repeats and no cheating).
5. Have people guess who the artists/bands are.
6. Paste this in your journal and do it too, so I can have fun guessing as well.

---

01.
Ben Folds Five - guessed by l33t_dreams

02.
LiZ - guessed by sadisticplay

03.
Gackt - guessed by sadisticplay

04.
Matenrou Opera - guessed by sadisticplay

05.
Epik High - guessed by swtjemz

06.
L'Arc~en~Ciel - guessed by sadisticplay

07.

08.
Alice Nine - guessed by sadisticplay

09.

10.

11.
NEWS - guessed by sadisticplay and swtjemz

12.

13.

14.
Aerosmith - guessed by sadisticplay

15.
The GazettE - guessed by sadisticplay

16.
Sarah McLachlan - guessed by zenni

17.
Phantasmagoria - guessed by sadisticplay

18.

19.
Kirito - guessed by sadisticplay

20.

21.

22.

23.
We Are Scientists - guessed by ittykat

24.
Jason Mraz - guessed by ittykat

25.
Versailles - guessed by sadisticplay

26.
Kisaki - guessed by sadisticplay

27.
Nightmare - guessed by sadisticplay

28.
DuelJewel - guessed by sadisticplay

29.
Plastic Tree - guessed by sadisticplay

30.
Miyavi - guessed by sadisticplay

31.
Jay Chou - guessed by soulfulmaverick

32.
SID - guessed by sadisticplay

33.
Malice Mizer - guessed by sadisticplay

34.
X Japan - guessed by sadisticplay

35.
Utada Hikaru - guessed by sadisticplay

36.
Acid Black Cherry - guessed by sadisticplay

37.
HYDE - guessed by sadisticplay

38.
Arashi - guessed by sadisticplay and kestral_kitsune

39.
Kagrra, - guessed by sadisticplay

Have at!

Also, alsidjfaoiwe slutPon. I may have to amend my "pon is the cutest thing ever" tag. Not that he isn't, but his photoshoot image seems to be veering away from that. Significantly. XD And randomly, what is Ryouhei wearing on his head? Bizarre rabbit ears? O___o

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:15:56 GMT

Mrr. For the last week or so, I have been having stressful dreams usually involving school, or huge crowds, and also people from school (high school and college) and a few random Jpop/rockers. I think I'm stressing about moving out again, even if I don't feel worried when I'm awake. x_x

I've started volunteering twice a week at a local library, which has mostly been rather boring. The woman I work for is very meticulous and methodical and... slow (her way of opening up a new Word document is to open an existing one, go File --> Close, then go File --> New), and has low expectations, I think. Last week, I finished my task (sorting maps and writing them down by hand) after seventy minutes, and she asked if I wanted to go home, even though I'm there for two hours. >.> And then said it was okay if I took a break (but two hours of simple tasks where I am sitting down the whole time is not really all that hard to do non-stop). But she wasn't there yesterday, so I got to do some inventory stuff. Even after working retail for a bit, scanning things is still fun, and I got to feel important while pushing a cart around and loading books on it. People also asked me questions (or stared at me as if they wanted to ask a question), and I was moderately helpful for two of them, and not helpful for one.

Sleepy. Cold. Mehblargh.

gnaws

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:27:55 GMT

I am very very hungry.

Tonight I finished moving jrock_tabs's directory to LiveJournal, caught up on the waiting applications at pickmybest, remembered to post reminders/winners at xmen_icontest and psc_stillness, and now I am all modded out. X_X

Tonight I also got to talk to swtjemz online, while she is in Tokyo! The KAT-TUN tour pamphlet thingie sounds So Very Shiny. *___*

Hungry.

Also, lajdfaiowewai Rui. Why so pretty. He looks so much like Aki there, especially since Aki has recently been wearing this. I am such a sucker for hair like that. The black and white looks GOOD. And of course, the bare midriff and random strappy things don't hurt either ~~and make me want to write bondagey things even though I also just want to write something that is not drabbleorporn-shaped~~. Also, Tohya's peace sign. XD More pics of these outfits, pls.

HUNGRY. Tired. Hungry. I don't remember what else I wanted to post about, if anything. Too hungry.

edit: GRR. I just found a Spanish-language blog where the poster copypasted the entire first half of the old tabs directory into his/her blog. Which bothers me a lot. Mostly because it took me days to do all of that, and yeah. And he/she has a disclaimer about how they grabbed their stuff from the Internet and so they're not responsible for whatever people use it for. Or something.

On the other hand, I like watching our bandwidth return to normal levels. And I like thwarting the people who direct linked to the directory (even though it's against community rules - for bandwidth reasons! and also participation reasons) because now those links will get you nowhere. Bwahahaha.

Mmmmdrama.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:40:25 GMT

Gluh.

Finished watching Last Friends with coiled_iris today. I have opinions on things/issues, but I don't feel like I can explain myself adequately in text, so I won't try. As far as the drama in general, despite things being rather predictable for the most part (both because jdramas are about as subtle as mammoths when it comes to plot twists, and because of the previews after/in the middle of the episodes), Happenings were still surprising when they Happened. The score did a good job of building up suspense, too, especially when accompanied by the long panning shots that came to be associated with danger!alert! in my head. Usually, there's at least one character in a drama that I can't really stand, but while I wanted to shake almost all of the characters in this at least once, I don't think there was one that I actually disliked by the end.

A lot of people complained about Michiru and her response to the abuse, but I can see her point of view (at least some of the time, sometimes I was doing the, "NO! NO, DON'T GO INTO THE HOUSE WHERE THOSE TOURISTS DISAPPEARED TEN YEARS AGO AND THEIR BODIES WERE NEVER FOUND!" thing) pretty well. And I couldn't completely hate Sousuke, even if he was rather fucked up, just because I think he was trying to find something that everyone wants, but he went about it in a crazy way.

(And coming from JE!Ryo, wow, he did a great job here. I hope the cast gets recognized for this drama, in general. I'm not an acting expert, but I think they all did pretty well.)

On a somewhat random sidenote, I went to Crunchyroll to see if they had the first episode uploaded, because I apparently missed the last five minutes or so, and I glanced at the message board for the LF group and there were comments like (paraphrased), "Wow, it was so great of Ryo to die for the woman he loved!" which was just... well, I closed the tab immediately. I'd already been spoiled for that little bit, but those comments were sort of WTF.

Anyways, back to characters? Despite everyone being an emobucket, I think they had a pretty well-rounded group, even if they did err on the side of stereotypical (but well, again, jdrama, and it's not really different from TV shows here). People (usually minor characters) actually had somewhat rational reactions to things, which was nice, especially when the main cast was eavesdropping and emoing and angsting and misunderstanding one another.

Hee, Janiben (what's going on with Maru's hair?) with Ryo being smiley and amused. :D And a bit husky-voiced there. *_*

Will go watch and stop trying to multi-task/babble now...

all icons, all the time

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:58:04 GMT

Been a long time since I crossposted this way. XD

[20 Kanjani8 icons from the TORN fancams (6 animated) - Over here at dammitliz]

Like it says on that post, please don't ask me for the original videos, because my conscience doesn't like the animated icons. >.> See the post for a less cryptic explanation.

Mom got a glimpse of my computer when I was working on these, saw this and asked me who he was. I stared at Ohkura~~'s crotch~~ for a minute and pondered what to say. For some reason, 'stripper' came to mind, but I just said, "He's a singer." Mom calls PSing "picture stuff," too. But she's getting better about the whole Japanese music thing. I was listening to Matenrou Opera's Kaze no tori in the kitchen last week and instead of saying, "Oh, More Japanese Stuff? :/" she just asked if he (Sono) was also playing the piano.

And now, time for an icon meme. I usually see this one done with just the icons people have uploaded, but dammitliv (ice_cubed) did it with All Of Her Icons Ever, so I thought I'd give it a try and mix the two. The first icon in each category is from the ones I have uploaded, the others are from an assortment of fandoms.

---

1. OLDEST ICONS

The first is from an issue of Madrox, which ran couple of years ago (maybe last year, but I think it was before). Said by Rahne Sinclair when Jamie Madrox asks her what she thinks of the name/sign for his private detective agency, which involves the letters "XXX."

The other four are my very first icon post ever on March 13, 2003. The first icon I ever made was actually of this gorgeous fanart of Glorfindel from Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. And I ruined it by putting "Glorfindel" in giant blue Vivaldi-fonted text across the bottom.

2. NEWEST ICONS

Er, well, the first two are in the post I just linked. The second was made a couple of hours ago. The third is the last icon I uploaded before TORN took over and is of Jui from Vidoll. Who is shiny. The fourth and fifth are from batches I haven't finished yet - the fourth is from one of the scans for Miyavi's This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock and the fifth is of Yamashita Shoon (or rather, his character, Inue Shinbei) in Satomi Hakkenden. *squishes*\

....Okay, and because I want to sleep some time tonight, I am going to just start going off of the icons I have uploaded, since there are 100+ of them and I have made way too many icons to go looking through all of the others. >.>

3. SADDEST ICONS

And I will start numbering things. :P

1. Saigo and Hanako (Nino and Nae) in Letters From Iwo Jima, after hearing that Saigo has to go off to war.
2. Kirito, who does seem to be emo a lot. At least in photoshoots. I drew the wings on because... I like them, and Angelo = angel = Liz being so clever.
3. Shinbei again. This is actually not a very sad moment (and not the saddest moment he has, even), but his expression is sort of sad, I think.
4. Ueda in KAT-TUN's Yorokobi no Uta PV, being dramatic and emo? It's one of my emo icons, anyways.
5. Ultimate!Warren with Death!Warren in the background. Warren/angst = OTP of canon.

4. HAPPIEST ICONS

1. Ryo-chan of NEWS, Kanjani8, and the lovely smile. This is probably the fluffiest happiest icon I'd made in a looong time when I made it, and remains one of the most unabashadly (and simply) gleeful icons I've made.
2. Arron from Fahrenheit and Hebe from S.H.E. in the Zhi dui ni you gan jue PV, being fluffy and cute and speaking via emoticon.
3. Yasu, also of Kanjani8 and the lovely smile. I drew the bee! It was fun. Also one of the most gleeful icons I've made.
4. Asagi and Ruiza from D. Last last(?) year, Asagi gave Ruiza a ride (yes, read that as pervily as you wish, but then tack on, 'ALSO an airplane ride') for his birthday. Strange!dork!Asagi ftw.
5. Ryu from Battle. This is kind of my pleased/oh-yeaaah-that's-right happy icon. He reminds me of a satisfied cat here. >.>

5. ANGRIEST ICONS

1. Anakin Skywalker going evil! From the Revenge of the Sith trailer. It was for a set of alphabet icons that I did of Darth Vader (in his many shapes), with X being for 'xenos,' meaning 'stranger.'
2. Ultimate!Scott and Alex Summers, fighting, because that's what brothers do. Except it's different when you have mutations that can't even hurt the other. Bummer!
3. Totoro! Who is not actually having a bad day there, but it looks like he could be. >.>
4. Psylocke from the X-men. Being her badass undead self.
5. And Havok from the X-men, being leaderly and grim. And punny. >.>

6. CUTEST ICONS

1. No one beats the sheep. Dir en grey's Shinya drew this for new year's one year.
2. Because koalas are cute when they're sleeping and not about to claw you.
3. Masa and You from GacktJOB being ~~tipsy~~ smooshy.
4. Kame and Yamapi during a little interview thing for Nobuta wo Produce. Yamapi's demonstrating how Akira is annoying, but it's still cute. XD
5. Tsunehito from D and Jackson the camel, who guest-starred in the Kuon PV.

7. SEXIEST ICONS

1. Hiroto from Alice Nine, looking nekkid.
2. *cheats a little because she is tired and not a good judge of 'sexiness'* Ryohkura. TORN. *_*
3. Aki from SID, and his inappropriate dancing during Chapter 1, which is a relatively mellow song.
4. Ruiza from D. The eyeliner is a bit too strong to look remotely um... well, obviously not natural, but more like it's supposed to be there, but I really like it here anyways.
5. Saga from Alice Nine, who is best shipped (when not in the OT5 that is A9) with his bass.

8. FUNNIEST ICONS

1. Dean Winchester from Supernatural. The emoticon just amuses me a lot, which is sorta why I uploaded the icon even though I don't watch SPN anymore. Dunno when/if I'll actually use it.
2. Ruki from The GazettE, groping a mannequin.
3. Taku from GLAY, in ur fandom, with awesomepants.
4. A quote from Aki's blog, in a post where there was a large truck doing construction work next door (or something), and Aki Did Not Want.
5. Yasuno and Keiyuu from Kra, being sillydorks. I think this is one where the context of the icon (a weird random little skit with Yasuno as a doctor and random PSC people run around him) is funny, and the icon itself is more funny because of that.

9. MOST FRIGHTENING ICONS

Because the idea of Hyde as Pope is scary and brain-asploding. And I don't really have any frightening icons, but I thought I should put something there.

10. FAVORITE SHIP ICONS

1. Kazuki and Yuuto from SCREW, being cute and fuzzy and not orgytastic together.
2. Hiroto and Saga from Alice Nine. This is obvs from before Pon grew up and forgot what buttons were for. :D
3. Gakuhaiiii. I am not a huge Gakuhai shipper, but this is a cute picture and they seem like they had fun making Moon Child
4. Die and Shinya from Dir en grey. Also not a huge shipper of them, but I like having a Diru icon uploaded and the last one was Die/Shinya, so I continued the trend. >.>
5. Hide-zou and Ruiza from D. I have a whole backstory for this icon in my head, involving Ruiza and how at one point he was actually innocent (...somehow Hide-zou wasn't?) and then Hide-zou came along, or something.

And I was trying to list icons I hadn't already done, but of course, there are also the TORN icons, and airplane!Asagi/Ruiza and Masa/You and the Pikame Nobuta icon.

11. MOST USED ICONS

Well, excluding the fact that some of these icons have been uploaded a lot longer than others...
1. Kai from LiZ. Well, it's my default, so yeah. It gets used a lot.
2. Hyde. Apart from me just really liking how this one turned out with the selective coloring, I use this as a sort of 'thank you' icon a lot, I think.
3. An English quote from Vidoll's Rame. coiled_iris gets this one in her journal quite a bit. :P
4. A quote from... possibly a Magic: the Gathering card? I don't remember. I use this for non-fandom things, or in fandom places where I don't want to show a bias, or something.
5. Miyavi + Something Corporate lyrics. Also just really like this one.

12. ICONS I SHOULD USE MORE OFTEN
Aside from teh ones I just uploaded?

1. Sizna from Sugar.
2. Hyde from Laruku. I like the coloring and the texture, but it doesn't really have much emotion to it, so it's hard to think of a post where this one would spring to mind specifically.
3. Kame in Gokusen 2. I don't want to use it more just because I want to make angsty posts, but he is really pretty here. >.>
4. Because I feel like I have a lot of days like this. XD
5. Arron from FLH again, and ex-default icon. See #2 for basic reason.

13. BEST ICONS FOR USE IN INTERNET ARGUMENT

Er, yeah, that's about it. And I am getting very tired now.

14. FAVORITES OVERALL
I can't choose. While it definitely wouldn't be all of them, there would probably be more than five in the running.

How many icons do you have room for? 120

How many of those are you currently using? 117

If you could buy space for more, would you?
No. I already pay for space. >.>

Do your icons make a statement about you?
I guess, in terms of what fandoms I'm in at any given moment, and artistically, what sort of styles I like.

What fandom do you have the most icons out of?
Excluding the bajillion RPG icons I've made for X-men games, it would be J-rock, in general. And probably Alice Nine, if I had to narrow it down.

The second most?
Hyde/Laruku, in Jrock. If Jrock is one fandom, then... I don't know. Maybe Life As A House, since I did a 100-icon challenge for that movie.

What ship do you have the most icons out of?
I am not sure. Well, right now it's probably Ryohkura, but Torapon probably isn't too far behind. Maybe.

What would you say is the biggest trend in your icons?
Light spots, tiny text, selective coloring.

How do you categorize your icons?
By... fandom/band?

Are your icons mostly made by other users?
I only use my own icons here. Just 'cause I'm weird like that.

How frequently does any one topic appear?
I don't think I understand this question. And I want to go to bed because I sense the sun is starting to come up. >.>

aljfwiejaaw goodnight.

avo-cado

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:10:05 GMT

Spent the night being modly, so now it's time for random video spam!

Fahrenheit (飛輪海) - Canon Camera Ad IN ENGLISH
Jiro sounds like such a doof with his one line, "Yeah, and it looks cool." XDDDD Calvin does most of the talking, but Arron gets to pronounce some multisyllabic words too, such as "immediately" (I think that's Arron). They do pretty well, though, which isn't really a surprise, considering where they've been.

Alice Nine - Shunkashuutou PV
Finally! It's like a flashback, which is sort of weird since I don't think I was in fandom when this song came out. Anyways. It's a lot like that Number Six movie they made, but with better (read as: less XD) acting and more adorableness.

And in the PRACTICAL THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM FANDOM corner:

Vidoll - Giru and Shun cook oysters for Jui
Aside from being hilariously domestic and mean (poor Jui probably didn't trust his food for a week), I learned how to cook an egg on top of noodles. Or in a pot in general. But so that it's solid, not like egg drop soup. YOWW!

Kanjani8 - AVOCADO!
How to cut and pit an avocado. We don't really buy them enough for me to have learned to do that on my own, and I'm always the one who has to do things with them, so my parents did not know either. XD Plus, learning things with K8 is just fun. EVERYTHING is SO EXCITING!!!!

Now, I should sleep before I get pulled into a video void.

a lovely bunch of coconuts

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:01:55 GMT

Going out for my birthday drink tonight~ It's a bit anticlimatic considering that a) er... there were parties sophomore year, and b) I'm going with people who have spent the last year(s) studying abroad in places where they were already quite legal XD, but I guess it's something we wanted to do anyways.

And randomly, some pictures of a sadly-unfinished project that I really need to finish. I started it in... late October, so right when I was getting into JE (and at that time, NEWS and maybe KAT-TUN specifically), and then something happened and I lost momentum.

But I had this idea to make little Sayaendou!chibi pirate heads out of paper and then make a big peapod, and stick Velcro on the back of them so that I could move them around on the peapod. I got as far as making the pirate heads, which was really most of the work, but then I realized I'd need two sheets of paper to make a decent peapod and that I only had one shade of green (is it a sign that I am a true artiste that I am so finicky? XDD), and everything went blah. I'll finish one day.

---

Yamapi was first, because he was the most complicated. This is Yamapi minus facial features and glue.

This Koyama, also minus facial features and glue. After this I stopped taking individual shots.

Here is everyone! The stripes for Massu and Shige's hats haven't been cut out yet, because those would've been hard to keep track of. o_O

Everyone assembled! Without faces. I have a scratch paper covered with documentation of their various facial expressions in the PV. XD

And the finished-so-far product. ...along with my turtle ring (no, not a Kame reference; I got it in Kauai years ago and continue to be amazed that it fits, except that it feels big these days), my pick-shaped earrings, my Chinese-English dictionary, and my mouse. >.> Oh! And you can see part of my scratch paper on the bottom right corner. I hole-punched all of their eyes and Koyama's were kind of obnoxious. And kinda hard to glue, which is why they're sort of lopsided. >.>

For holiday cards, I made variations of these for some peoples' cards, both of the NEWS guys and for Miyavi, Saga, Yasuno, Die, and Mrs. Coulter from The Golden Compass (am I forgetting anymore?). It was a paper phase.

Eep.

And now I am late. *zooms*

screwed in a good way _

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:07:19 GMT

HOLY CRAP NEW SCREW OHP PICS. They're posted at nejireta_shiso, but it's locked, and I don't like linking to locked posts (and because I'm weird, I screencapped them again myself, and okay, I like my collection of OHP pictures >.>), so they are here too.

---

MANABU REFUSES TO COVER HIS STOMACH. KAZUKI HAS DARK HAIR. YUUTO LOOKS DECIDEDLY NOT FUZZY AND MAYBE LIKE A MIX OF SAKITO AND RUKA. I DUNNO. HE REMINDS ME OF NIGHTMARE SOMEHOW. JIN WEARS SHORT SHORTS. AND GARTERS. BYOU IS... I DON'T KNOW. PRETTY. XD

And now that I'm done with the initial flailing:

Well, I guess Byou is moving away from the Ruki cloneness a bit, which is nice. Leopard print was so last year, though (no, rly. Wasn't it around now that A9 was wearing various feline prints for White Prayer?).

Kazuki looks suspiciously hurt and innocent in his solo shot. I am ignoring the braids, or at least ~~hoping~~ pretending they're not attached to his head. I guess those are this year's thing. >.> His outfit looks a bit like... stylish Jedi knight. Or something.

I keep thinking that the pale blond streak on the right side of Manabu's head is a bald spot. Other than that, niice, though I think he looks a little weirdly hunchbacked in the first group shot. And I think he's wearing a skirt. Or something ruffly over his pants. Which is good!

FUZZYBEBE. Where did fuzzybebe go? I was actually somewhat-seriously (fandom-level seriously, of course) worried about what would replace the giant flower hat that I love so much. I'M GOOD WITH THIS. Shopretty. Even if it messes with my Yuuto muse (yeah, jrock hate memers, I have a muse. And it's not even in RP. But at least I don't say that he makes me do things. I think), who is suddenly going, "LOOK, I am TOO leader." Also, I would like to play with ~~him~~ the extra zippers on his pants. O:-)

Poor Jin can't follow the Yuuto squee. XD Nice hair! Nice shorts! Nice legs! Thank you for the effort, especially when you're the drummer and we can't see your legs onstage anyways (though that hasn't stopped Hiroki). :D But I guess that's VK for you. I see we've turned Ruki's gold pants into something new, or maybe it's recycled from Byou's blinding gold suit.

I think I get more excited about new SCREW OHP pics than almost any other Jrock group. Except maybe LiZ, but that happens like once a year, so it's worth getting excited over. :P

I need new SCREW icons! Time to put the 200+ new patterns/brushes I added to PS this week to use.

In other exciting things, WALL-E is out today! :DDDDD

help the peace corps?

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:25:52 GMT

Erm, so there's no really unawkward way to do this: I have a request for money. Don't run yet! It's for a good cause, and a personal one, so it's not like the money is going to a big organization where you don't what exactly it's being used for.

But I would I like to stress this: Do not feel obligated to give. I know a lot of you on my flist are scrapped for cash yourselves, and/or are Struggling Starving Students, and/or have other priorities. I won't think less highly of you if you don't, and you don't get special points if you do (though I am pondering 'thank you' gifts in the forms of icons/drabbles/dunnoyet).

If you do feel inclined to help, don't feel like you have to give a lot. My dad passed this around at work and people donated between $5 and $20 USD, but really, anything will help. And actually, large numbers would probably be suspicious, since my parents think I talk to like... five people, online. XD

This is the letter from Brandon, my oldest cousin, who has been in Nicaragua for the last almost-four years as a member of the Peace Corps:

"I'm a Peace Corps volunteer living in the village of La Labranza #2, a rural community with no vehicles in the northern mountains of Nicaragua with about 130 houses and a population of approximately 1,100 people. The Burras River passes through and separates the four neighborhoods, so citizens have to hop across rocks or wade through the water to cross the river, which is treacherous for everyone anytime and almost impossible during the rainy season from August to October. Students can't get to school, farmers can't reach their fields, residents can't leave the community when a health issue arises.

With promised funding from the Peace Corps, the local community added their limited resources to build a pedestrian footbridge across the river. The municipal government is currently receiving bids from contractors and hope to being work by the end of June. The total cost of the project is approximately 430,000.00 cordobas, or a little over US$20,000.00. The community of La Labranza #2 will be contributing about $2,500.00 worth of manual labor and materials and the municipal government will be contributing the majority of the funding - approximately $16,000.00. Suddenly the USAID grant for $2,500.00 through the Peace Corps to complete the funding is no longer available. The poor rural community of farmers cannot make up the difference, so they are forced to look elsewhere for financial assistance and are now seeking private donations from people in the United States.

Whatever you can contribute to this project will be graciously accepted and greatly appreciated and will go directly to the project. No amount is too small and every little bit will help the people of La Labranza #2 get their bridge and the secured access that is needed for the development and well-being of their community."

---

There are pictures with the letter, of the hut Brandon is staying in, and the stream, but my scanner is broken and I am sneaking. >.>

From what I understand, the Peace Corps funding fell through because the price of the project ended up being over the maximum amount they will grant to the villages for things like this. So now Brandon is trying to raise $2,500. I will vouch for his sincerity (I mean, his 'term' is up at the end of this year, but he's planning to stay beyond that just to see this bridge built)... he's probably one of the more reliable cousins. :P

And again, NO OBLIGATION, obvs. My dad wants to send the check on Wednesday, but I have PayPal, so... I think something could be worked out that way. If you're at all interested, or want to know more - though that is pretty much all I know about the project (or want to throw rocks at me for soliciting in my LJ, or whatever XD), leave a comment with your e-mail address. They are screened.

sleep deprivation + fanmix :3

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:12:23 GMT

It is tiring to even think about the trip down to Los Angeles. x_x

We left at 6am, and were planning to leave at 5:30, but at least I was able to sleep. On the way down, there was a spill of hazardous material that closed off part of the Interstate (I-5, which runs in... pretty much a straight line through the Central Valley. It's a lot of desert, and then a lot of grapevines, and then LA), so we ended up going on a detour that added about two hours to our travel time. Two and a half, if you count lunch. So it took us about nine hours to get down to Pomona.

The way up was much faster. Not only was I-5 open, but I rode most of the way with teh brother, and he drives fast.

Hanging out with karinberry was fun, though, even without a plan. XDD She gave me cookies! There's something incredibly amusing/freeing/generally awesome about being able to talk about things like Jrock/pop, pronz and fandom at large with people in person. AGAIN AGAIN :DDDD

Then on Sunday, we had to wake up early to go up to Sacramento to visit Popo and two cemetaries. And today, I had my permit test at 8:50am. Yes, had to start all over (again)... I would like to sleep in tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes with both parents taking the day off.

In the meantime! How about something sappy and fluffy and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and YAY?

---

It's been awhile. XD For those from ye olde RPG crews, this is quite a bit like the Love fanmix I made at character_love, but smaller and with a few different songs. It was, I guess, supposed to have something to do with the gay/lesbian marriages that became legal again in San Francisco, but ended up being another little love mix with a bit of a LGBT lean, especially in Vienna Teng's song, which I think is actually about the first round of gay marriages in SF.

01. Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity - Meditation
True love doesn't lie, it doesn't hide, and it will never be denied the right to sing its furious song in the sad, empty streets from dusk 'til dawn. Love laughs at fear and cries out its name for all to hear.

Love is beautiful, fierce and loud. But most of all, love is PROUD.

[rest of 'lyrics' are on the CD covers - read from back to front]

02. Curtis Stigers - To Be Loved
But you deserve to be loved
You deserve something real
Time to heal
Time to feel
...more lyrics (totally did not realize it was used in Dawson's Creeek XDD)

03. Savage Garden - Affirmation
I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity
...more lyrics

04. Emmylou Harris - A Love That Will Never Grow Old (from Brokeback Mountain)
Lean on me, let our hearts beat in time,
Feel strength from the hands that have held you so long.
Who cares where we go on this rutted old road
In a world that may say that we're wrong.

Cause I know a love that will never grow old
And I know a love that will never grow old.
...more lyrics

05. Travis - Love Will Come Through
If the world isn't turning
Your heart won't return anyone anything anyhow...

So take me don't leave me
Take me don't leave me
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you
...more lyrics

06. Vienna Teng - City Hall
ten years waiting for this moment of fate, when we say the words and sign our names. if they take it away again someday, this beautiful thing won't change. oh, me and my baby driving down, to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall. oh, me and my baby stand in line, you've never seen a sight so fine as the love that's gonna shine... at city hall.
...more lyrics

07. GLAY feat. Kyosuke Himuro - Answer
A love song suddenly wafts through the street
Tenderly coloring that time
When we dreamed together
I'm still living my life
Not knowing the meaning of love
This is the one thing I believe
"Love is beautiful"
...more lyrics

...and from this, I have learned that Vienna Teng has a twitter. Cute.

i wanna ride it all night long ;D

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:07:55 GMT

Let us open with a brotherly quote:

"brother: o shit waffles! yeah i forgot about that one..."

So, yes. I forgot that we were going to drive down to LA tomorrow to retrieve said brother. We're staying overnight, and coming back on Saturday. Because the weather is so hot (this is probably the warmest summer I can remember - we do get warm days here, but usually not until August, and certainly not in May like he have this year), we're leaving at 5:30am to try and beat most of the Central Valley heat. x_x

BUT ON THE VERY UP SIDE, I get to see karinberry again! And it hasn't even been a year since our last meeting. :DDD

I had a dream last night that there was a fancam for Ryo and Ohkura's TORN, and the dance involved kissing. At least I think it was a dream. >.> I didn't remember it until this afternoon, which makes me wonder if it's my faulty memory smushing things from last night's 1-Hour Challenge together.

I also have a ramble to do for Satomi Hakkenden, but I'm going to wait until I watch the bits I haven't watched yet. I've seen 95% of it, and the other 5% either on mute or um... while skipping around. I watched it at night, and my dreams are easily influenced by whatever I'm doing before I sleep, and I did not want evil dreams.

But I definitely recommend it. It surprised me because I was expecting something hokey and unintentionally silly, but despite the conventional plot devices and the hilarious fake blood, it's pretty good (though not without its hokey moments, since there is a Romance). There's pretty hair, and violence and a bit of gore, and pretty pretty costumes, and Yamashita Shoon and puppies. No, really.

I need a wibblyninja!Shoon icon (haha, at first I left off the 'icon' part). And to possibly write fic about wibblyninja!Shoon. >.> *has bunny, sort of*

*totally hit a Shoon spot in my Juniors void*

And finally, for some context re: the beginning quote, brother was actually talking about forgetting Father's Day:

brother: maybe ill buy him my reportcard AHAHAHa
me: ...
me: odd child
brother: SERIOUSLY SO WEIRDEDEDEDED

just call me senpai

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:41:49 GMT

= First day as a colored belt kid in seven years, and I end up training with a woman whose first day was today. Doing a technique that I haven't even done yet. Luckily, senpai Bob, who was running class today, decided to scale ushiro ryote dori shiho nage (a two-hand grab, in motion, from behind) down to katate dori shiho nage (same hand grab, can be done static).

= Liz is a mumbly senpai. It's weird being senior to older people. XD

= I've been watching too much Shounen Club and am on a Juniors kick. And I still think that Question?'s Fujiie is Pon's seekrit older brother, just playing a bass and a bit more rodenty (good rodents!) looking and with a higher-pitched voice. And girlier.

= Randomly decided to catch up on the massive trainwreck that is the X-men comicverse, and found out that a) Pixie is all 'dark' and has a psychic dagger (hello, Psylocke much) in 616, and b) Ultimates has a new writing staff that includes some guy from Heroes, and is starting a new arc that seems to feature Piotr prominently. I'm hoping this means Jean-Paul will get more screentime too. And it would be awesome if Piotr/Jean-Paul got some screentime. Pagetime.

= Following that, a major o_O for Ultimates!Alpha Flight. I like what they did with Snowbird - it makes more sense for a demi-goddess of the land to look like a native (or well, basically native) of the land she's from, rather than some pale blond chick. But Shiro and Jubilee? Token Asians? Random way of getting them into the books? I would've much preferred Puck II to Jubes, anyways. They've got similar characters/looks, but Puck II is more badass and less annoying. At any rate, they're there to kidnap Jean-Paul. Yay!

= ...If they kill Ult!Jean-Paul, I will be very sad.

= Oh, jeez. Now I remember why I stopped following comics:

---

Ultimate!Angel:

"While trying to protect the Morlocks he is shot to death by Mister Sinister.[11] He later returns to life in Ultimate X-men #93. He is seen as a member of Colossus' enchanced team at the end of issue #94, his appearance drastically altered throught the use of Banshee, the Ultimate version of MGH [Mutant Growth Hormone], resulting in Warren having an eagle-like head and feathered upper torso."

Also, brilliant choice to call the drug BANSHEE, of all things. Because it's not like anyone will associate that with a certain Irish screamer.

And better yet, 616!Angel:

"In X-Force #4, Warren is brutally attacked by a mind controlled Wolfsbane. During the attack, Wolfsbane savagely rips Warren’s wings from his back and runs away, taking the wings with her. She later delivers them to the Purifiers who reveal that a mysterious agent known as the Apocalypse Strain is present in Warren’s body, and is the chief component of the wings themselves. The Purifiers use the Apocalypse Strain to modify an army of Purifier agents, giving them the same metallic wings that Archangel once had. Meanwhile, although Elixir is able to heal all of Warren's injuries, he cannot re-grow his wings due to interference from the Apocalypse Strain. Later in the story, Warren is gripped by a series of excruciating seizures that not only mysteriously regenerate his techno-organic wings, but also transform him back into Apocalypse's version of Archangel."

SIGH.

= I still want to read this Ultimate arc, I think. >.> At least the art doesn't make me cringe anymore.

= Hello, Jrock/pop friends. Meet Liz's comic book geek side. :D :D

o.o

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:11:55 GMT

Hello, tiny earthquake!

Hello, previously-recently-calmed nerves!

Kids, this is why going to sleep at a reasonable hour in tiny earthquake country is good. If I'd been asleep, I don't think I'd have even noticed this one. Instead, I am awake, and randomly posting on LJ!

Apparently that was a 3.5, about eight miles away. Hm. Little rumbly~

'nother job interview tomorrow. I've decided to not take the one I interviewed for earlier, which means a) more peace of mind, but also b) not having a job. >.> Which means more nagging = less peace of mind. Eh.

Time to sleep. Rly.

edit: alkfjiwleafd Pon. SOMEONE is growing up, I see. *__*

all the birds sing words and the flowers croon

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:00:11 GMT

I don't know if anyone will want these, but I haven't done a round of screencapping OHPs lately. XD And I wanted to have more in the post than me laughing at Rui's unexpected JE crossover. After cristal's... inspiring post about Yuh, I somehow ended up scrolling around Vistlip's blogs (and somehow ended up with an Ameblo - why do they actually lock things? D:). Turns out that Rui is a KAT-TUN fan. And he wants their album. XDDDDDDDD

And I just had a realization (or two). I should probably maybe actually look at the entries I run through Google. I'd assumed that 'storm-album' was a reference to J-Storm the label, not... something else, but no, he's actually talking about Arashi (and not having listened to their album yet? and something about how there's a lot of music to keep up with).

*desk*

Well, props to him for posting that on a public blog! *eyes Ruiza* And for making my day. XDD

Anyways, have some screencaps. They might be too small for decent iconage, but they're pretty, and I will icon them anyways. Maybe tomorrow, when I have the house to myself.

Matenrou Opera:

---

Vistlip:

I know the whole butterfly thing is so cliche, but Yuh's tattoo, and Yu's facepainted butterfly pattern (not in the OHP pics; he does different designs for different shows, it seems) are sopretty. Ayame's flower hat is... not as awesome as Yuuto's, but still cute. I want to squish Tohya, especially in that profile pic. Little emobucket. And Rui and Yu both remind me of Vict, which always makes me think that Yu is the bassist, but he's not.

...and now I see why soulfulmaverick is always wondering at how the VK fans keep all of the bands straight. XDD